


Nobody

by xNoLights



Series: Gaien and Sterling [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Friendship/Love, Interspecies Romance, Mass Effect 3, Original Character(s), Romance, The Reaper War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6642706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xNoLights/pseuds/xNoLights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I suck at summaries, fair warning. <br/>Set in the Reaper war, two peoples kind of meet each other and then form a bond, which turns into a kind of thing. Short little first cluster of how they met and how they bonded. Another Turian x Human fic from me. Because I like them... yeah... I hope whoever reads this enjoys it as much as I enjoyed Writing it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

            _Tink…tink…tink…_  
  
            “Damn it…” hissed a woman under her breath as she kept her hand on her head to keep her hat in place and ran after the little metal canister that had fallen from her friend’s pack. Wearing military fatigues, she was obviously a soldier, her short brown hair sticking out from under her cap wildly.  
            Gloved talons quickly snatched up the canister, their owner standing straight. Violet eyes looked at the female Alliance soldier before he held it out to her. Dark grey plates with more of a light stormy grey tone to the hide between, no colony markings… Turian. He stood tall regardless of his status; he was a soldier, an engineer… his rucksack on his back and wearing his own set of hierarchy military fatigues.  
            “Hey! Thanks” said the human as she ran up to him; he held it out to her not saying a word. “Really, thanks, this stuff is pretty important” she grinned as her hand reached and took it from his out stretched talon bearing one.  
            “Sure” was all he said, dual toned voice medium pitched, maybe on the lower end of the spectrum. It sounded emotionless though, and his face did not read friendly in the least bit.  
            The human raised an eyebrow and looked at him before she smirked, “Well don’t be jumping at my gratitude or anything” she snorted before turning. She turned back after a second though, “Careful out there soldier, be a shame to lose eye candy like you to the reapers.” She was grinning at him again; her face scrunched before she winked at him and then ran back to the group of people she’d been walking with.  
            He stared at her, watching her as she caught up with her friends. Her voice had been nice… her eyes were a warm shade of brown too. He smirked in his own way before shaking his head and laughing to himself as he turned to continue his path to report in.  
  
**_Gaien_**

            Lying in his bunk, the Turian kept thinking about the friendly human female. First nice thing he’d had directly said to him in years. Then again being a barefaced backwater nobody wasn’t doing him any favors; the fact he was a nobody kept him as a nobody. He’d never advance any further in the military, lieutenant was about as far as he could ever hope… and even then no one respected the title when it came to him. He’d only earned it because he was now thirty seven, and had been in the military twenty years without a break or vacation. Hundreds of missions, thousands of active duty hours, dozens of successful and praise worthy accomplishments, it meant nothing.  
            He was always going to be backwoods Gaien Tannis. Smart, healthy, strong, respectful, resourceful, talented Gaien… but still a nobody. Maybe that’s why he was thinking about the human… because she was nice to him? Well, she probably didn’t realize how low down the ladder he was, she was a human after all.  
            Then again, maybe some people were just nice. She called him “eye candy”, when he looked it up he was surprised to discover it meant attractive. So humans could gauge turian aesthetics? Well, he didn’t know what to think, he just knew he’d never get a turian mate, and no one would ever like him. He didn’t even have any friends… just shoved on a Turian ship to go and throw himself at the reapers like the cannon fodder he was.  
 “Whatever… either one of us will die, or we’ll never meet again” he huffed to himself.  
  
**_Sterling_**

            “What? He was damn good looking!” laughed a female human soldier as she shouldered her rucksack and leaped into the cargo bay; cap hanging out of her back pocket and brown hair wild, per usual.  
            “Come on Ster, He was a turian,” laughed another woman as she walked up next to her, “What in this galaxy is attractive about a turian?”  
            “Like… everything” Sterling laughed as she gave her friend a look. “Their strong, good hearted for the most part, brave, and totally badass!”  
            “They have teeth and claws.”  
            “All the better for playing” Sterling grinned as she dodged a hand that was trying to smack her. “Besides… he had really beautiful eyes,” she caught her friend’s hand (still trying to land a hit) and sighed, “They were pale violet, like the lilacs that grow back home.” she observed.  
            Sterling Reyes, or Lieutenant Sterling Reyes, was a proud member of the Alliance marines. The newest member of her family to join them, since her grandfather, and he had never made lieutenant, this made her proud, even if her family constantly begged her to desert and come back to them.  
            Strong, quirky, smart, tenacious, and fiercely loyal, she’d climbed the ranks fast, giving it her all. She’d joined later than more people, almost to her mid-twenties when she’d enlisted. From there she’d been working her ass off, climbing the ranks. Now just before her thirty second birthday she was a lieutenant and damned proud of herself. She was from the Rocky Mountains in the USA of Earth, American born and bred.  
            She came from a large family, raised by them and her single mother. Life had been really hard for a while, till she managed to get her shit together; much to her mother’s joy. Now in the face of terror, she too stood strong to give it her all and defeat the reapers. She constantly said she was behind Shepard one hundred and ten percent. “Put a boot in their synthetic ass!” she would say a lot when her friends talked about the reapers and let fear get into them. She was scared, sure, but the last thing she was going to do was let the fear cripple her. No, she was going to use it to take a few of the bastards with her if it was the last thing she did alive.  
            Sterling had the mindset that if she gave her all, even if she fell, at least all her hard work would make it a little easier for the people who followed behind. She gave her all, and the fearlessness she displayed rallied her friends beside her.


	2. Chapter 2

“Fancy seeing your face here!” said a vaguely familiar sounding voice from his left. Gaien looked over and nearly dropped his pistol as he saw the cheery brown eyed woman. There were bombs going off, people screaming, gunfire, and spirits only knew what other horrific sounds the rest was; and yet, that woman was here again.  
            “Shouldn’t you be shooting something?!” he called over the noise as the human soldier jumped over a fallen brute corpse and landed behind his cover. He looked her over, had to be infiltration unit, sniper and visor… then again he saw she had an amp on her ear as well as a shotgun and assault rifle on her back. Those weren’t typical equipment for any infiltration division.  
            The female stood from cover, aimed and took a shot, “Okay, shot something, will you talk now?” she asked. Laughing afterwards, and even snorting in her laughter when she saw his face read clear confusion. “I’m Sterling! I knew I recognized your face!”  
            “What? Barefaced Mongrel?” He asked bitterly.  
            “The fuck is that? No! You have the pretty lilac eyes and the wicked face things!” she shouted back while touching her chin and jaw before he gaped at her again. She just laughed harder and held her stomach. “What? So I think you’re nice colors and your overall self makes me want to talk to you!” she explained before hearing a scream. “Talk later? Here’s my ‘tool info.” she smiled as she pulled up her omni-tool and sent him her information, which he received.  
            He’d opened his mouth to say something to her, but she jumped from cover and went sprinting into a group of cannibals. He shook his head and watched as she shot them in the face point blank with her shotgun, held with one hand no less, and then grabbing another’s face and threw him. What in the name of all spirits was this woman… and where had she been all his life?  
  
**_Gaien_**

With a groan he laid in his bunk, nursing a terrible headache from the punch to the head he’d gotten from a brute. Okay, how the weird female managed to run up and headbutt one of them he would never know, however he’d watched her do it. He’d been out here two weeks, apparently just as long as the female that was called Sterling. The second day when she’d came up to him he’d thought he was going crazy, and now he found himself seeing her more and more often, Once actually being grabbed by his belt and pulled into cover.  
            “Crazy woman.” he muttered to himself. Though he had to admit, he liked the way she’d smelled when she threw herself over him to cover him from the blast; after she’d pushed herself off him, smiled, and took off again.  
            Pulling up his omni-tool he opened it up and sent a message.  
            _Hey, lilac eyed turian here… - G.T._  
  
            He waited a bit before the worst crossed his mind, thank the spirits his tool beeped and she’d replied.  
           

_Hey! I didn’t think you’d message me, considering you’re probably all like, weirded out some crazy human girl is like, “yeah you’re like, really cool… and yeah” -S.R._

He smirked, _No, a little surprised since no one in their right mind would talk to a bareface like me. Can’t say I’m not mildly enjoying the attention. -G.T._

_The hell is a bareface? Is it because you don’t have the face marking thingies? Are those super important to have? And I’ve been told a lot that I’m not in my right mind, but I took down three harvesters all on my own today. So no one can complain as long as I get the job done and lessen the number of causalities on our side.- S.R._

_It’s someone without a colony… or a family. My kind isn’t really trusted or respected. Wow! Three? What the hell did you do? – G.T._

_Well, I think you’re handsome AF and hell, turians are cool in general. You guys are like space dinosaurs! And I crashed one into another and the third I beheaded it with my combat stave. – S.R._

_…You are insane, and are you a xeno? – G.T._

_No, I mean I really don’t have sex at all really, let alone attracted to people. Why? Wanna do it with a human? –S.R._

Gaien choked as he read that and started coughing; he didn’t even want to let his mind wonder what blowing off some steam would be like with a human. There was a female turian here who was a subordinate and had offered to do it. However, he didn’t bother to take the offer; he didn’t want to embarrass her. However a human? Who would know? Okay, nope, he needed to stop thinking about that and go find someone to spar with him. He still had a headache, but he could deal with that over the pent up emotions.

**_Sterling_ **

            She laughed as she sent the last message. She was purely joking with him, besides she knew she wasn’t exactly a looker. Not when her friends and squad mates were all beautiful even in the midst of battle. She looked tired and mess, but almost maniacal as she found new ways to fuck with their enemy and essentially punch back.  
            Sighing she sat back against the crate she was leaning against and looked up at the sky, it was all quiet now… but that didn’t mean that it would last that way for long.  
            “I’m okay mum, you just hold the family together down there, I’m doing all I can to fight.” she said to herself as she pulled up a picture of her family. Eight people, five cats, two dogs. It was her entire family back where she lived, and she hoped they were okay and safe. “ ‘m okay...” she repeated to herself.  
            With a sigh she got up, cracked her back and then went to grab a stim before she went off to scout again. She wasn’t going to rest until she knew there was a chance of safety for all the lives around her.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Gaien_ **

            “KEEP UP THE FIRE!” he screamed as he hauled one of his fallen brethren into cover. Gaien was panicking; he couldn’t help but do it. He’d fallen asleep for a few moments; he swore that’s all it had been before there was screaming and a crash. The Invasion of reapers into their camp startling awake, only for the first thing he saw was for a brute grab a fellow soldier and tear him in half, blue blood spraying everywhere.  
            “You have to get someone over here! We’re getting obliterated!” screamed Gaien into his com as he gave the soldier in front of him medigel. He didn’t know why they were being abandoned; he didn’t know why all of a sudden he was being ignored. However there was more than just him there, were it just him he’d get it. Most of these men and women had families, they didn’t need to be here dying like this.  
            Gaien froze as he felt eyes on him, before he turned his head and saw a Banshee staring straight at him. She howled in that nightmarish way, before teleporting closer to him. He was sure he had been done for, until a flash of blue sideswiped the reaper. He panted; eyes wide before he turned to where the flash had come from.  
            It was as if the spirits had answered him, Help. Help was there… though it wasn’t turians. He’d recognize that armor anywhere by now. Jet black and grey in color with toxic green lights in the back. Humans, and even more so, it was Lieutenant Reyes. She wasn’t alone either; one glimpse and he had counted at least twenty other soldiers and a roving tank.  
            He was about to die, asked for a miracle, and the Spirits had sent the crazy human soldier to him.

 

**_Sterling_ **

            “GIVE THEM ALL YOU GOT TOCA!” ordered Sterling as she charged forward and slammed into the Banshee who was just starting to get up again. It didn’t stand a chance under her onslaught. Sterling had one fool proof strategy, keep hitting them with all you have and never let up. She’d more than once had to pop stims in the middle of combat, more than once had to chug a supplement reserve while under fire, but she wasn’t about to let them ever think they stood a chance against her.  
            The rover started open fire, cackling heard from the inside as metal shredded at the reapers in front of it. Soldiers jumping out of the line of fire as it mowed down everything in its path. Suddenly a loud beeping started and the top opened, “SHE’S OVER HEATED REYES!”  
            “HUMAN HARDBALL THEN!” Reyes screamed back, with a running jump and leapt and handed on the back of a brute, her omni-tool glowing on her hand as she spun around it’s neck and landed, rushing forward again. The brute took a step before collapsing, its head falling off. She wasn’t letting them take the turian camp, she wasn’t going to stand by and watch lives of people fall.  
            Sterling rammed her elbow into a marauder’s face; she stopped to smile as she heard a voice scream to not let their birdy brothers in arms fall. This was her team, N7 ranked people who weren’t okay with just fighting war, or going on missions. This large group of people was made up of all those who volunteered to take the war to the reapers on other planets. Earth had a lot of people fighting for it; yeah, they could always use more. However, the other species needed help too. This group was people who volunteered to go to their Turian allies, sort of a “scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” move.  
            Either way, Shepard was right… either we all stand together, or we all die.

 

**_Gaien_ **

            “Reyes,” he smirked as she walked up to him. “Imagine my surprise when I call in for help, only to see a small army of humans come running.” he laughed lightly.  
            “Well Tannis, I couldn’t just let my battlefield eye candy go down.” she responded as she removed her helmet. “What? Not happy to see your favorite human?”  
            “On the contrary, I feel as if I have been blessed.” he admitted as he took off his own helmet and looked at her. He didn’t ever think he would be so happy to see her, yeah her presence was always welcomed, considering she made the war just a little more tolerable to him. However for her to be his spirited battle guardian? He’d have never guessed the dorky woman who would throw rocks at the reapers when she ran out of ammo.  
            Sterling smiled widely at him and rubbed the back of her neck before acting bashful, “Well if that isn’t a compliment.” she chuckled. Her face went serious then, “Damage report?” she asked.  
            Gaien growled low in his chest before he looked away from her, “Over half of us are gone… they abandoned us to die,” he ground out before his angry eyes turned to look at her. “All because the general died here, and it all fell to me.”  
            “Fuck ‘em!”  
            “Erm…”  
            “Means don’t think about it, it doesn’t matter if they left you all. You can bring that up after this war. However you are not alone. You have allies and honestly, I don’t give a varren’s anus that you’re barefaced.” She said none too eloquently. “We heard the screams, came running… all that’s left of us anyways.” She nodded. Gaien counted thirty five people, hadn’t there been much more before?  
            “They’ve been working us down, they have the numbers to keep grinding at us, take out the weak and tired.” Growled Sterling as she crossed her arms, “They don’t realize it though, but that just makes the surviving ones angrier.”  
            “You guys sure do pack a punch, what are you anyways?” he asked.  
            “Lieutenant Sterling Reyes, N7 Slayer Vanguard; used to be special infiltration and covert, I also like to kill things that threaten sentient life as we know It.” she smirked.  
            “Huh, so you’re just a mash up of deadly and powerful aren’t you?” he chuckled. “Lieutenant Gaien Tannis, Saboteur, with a love for bashing evil synthetic things to death.”  
            “Good to be surviving with you Tannis!” laughed Reyes as she offered him her hand. He took it and shook it.  
            “Right back at you Reyes.” he purred at her.


	4. Chapter 4

            “TANNIS!” screeched that familiar voice. He didn’t know what it had been that hit him, only that now everything hurt and he couldn’t see straight.  
            “Reyes?” he groaned out as he felt hands on him and turned to see that black helmet. It was a heart soothing sight, meant that someone was looking out for him.

            They’d merged camps, half human, and half turian now standing together against Reaper forces on this little moon. He was thankful for it, he didn’t know if he could have kept his diminished platoon together. Luckily for him Reyes was the type of person who commanded naturally, thus his platoon followed her orders and he just let her lead.  
            He didn’t mind, to admit it all fully, he kind of liked watching her be the teeth against the reapers here. They were just short of a hundred, and yet the reapers were thinning. She was a person that tore through her enemies and left them suffering in her path. If only she was turian.  
            He’d have propositioned her in a second if she was, damn if she was superior to him in ranks, as she would be in the turian military. Luck would have it though, she was a human uninterested in sex in general… and that disappointed him.

            “I’m here buddy” said Reyes as she pulled off her helmet and looked at him. “You okay? You’re not bleeding, anything feel wrong?”  
            “Yeah, you’re not naked and riding me…”  
            “You’re fine then.” scoffed Reyes as she slapped him across his face, he was thankful he was wearing a helmet then. She however was smirking and looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “In all seriousness...”  
            “Everything hurts…” he. groaned as he sat up and pulled off his helmet. “The fuck hit me?”  
            “You decided that you could take on a pair of brutes, well I hate to break it too ya buddy, but only I can do that.” she smiled as she grabbed his chin and looked at him. He flared his mandibles at her in a grin before she thrust his face away. “So back off my turf bro, I’m the giant slayer here!”  
            “There’s enough you could share.” he told her as he panted. “Any news?”  
            “Yeah, they’re coming to get you and the rest of your guys. Apparently it’s time to go fight on Earth.” said the woman as she sat back on her rear and leaned back.  
            “What about you?”  
            “My group is going back with you guys, I’m staying here till the day after.”  
            “Why?”  
            “Not enough room.”  
            “I’ll stay too.”  
            “Shut your mouth, you’re going with the rest of them.”  
            “Excuse me? I don’t remember you being my commanding officer.”  
            “Well you did just get hit in the head, again.”  
            “Funny…”  
            “I know I am, absolutely fucking hilarious.”  
            Gaien then looked at her seriously, “They wouldn’t be coming back would they?” he then watched her eyes carefully.  
            She was silent for longer than he’d have liked. Her eyes staring at his while she bit her cheek and thought about whatever was going through her head. She finally took a deep breath and smirked, “Nope.”  
            “Why?”  
            “Because, Alliance didn’t want to come, and I had to argue with your guys to just get you all out of here. I’m just one person, nothing to lose.”  
            Gaien felt himself get angry, “What?”  
            “I’m nothing to lose.”  
            “You are everything to lose! Fucking pyjack!”  
            “Excuse me?”  
            “Can’t you tell how many people here look up to you and admire you? Hell, you’re the one who pulled us together and got us to survive. I don’t care what you say Reyes, I’m not leaving this rock without you!”  
            “Why in hell are you so attached to me?!”  
            “Maybe because you’re the only fucking person to ever tell me I’m not garbage?” he asked and gave her a sarcastic look. “Reyes, I’m a Barefaced nobody, I really could die and no one would care or mourn me. You’re a real person, with a family, and people who care about you.”  
            “Tannis…”  
            “No! Reyes, you go, I’ll stay…”  
            “No…”  
            “Why?”  
            “Because you are worth something to someone; I care. I really don’t give a fuck if you’re “barefaced” or whatever. I just know I care about Tannis, the stupid ass who keeps trying to move in on my turf for battles!”  
            Tannis looked at her and felt his hide flush blue, not from some fledgling feeling either. He was a mixture of emotions right now: angry, rage, embarrassment, joy, sexually aroused. “You’re getting on that fucking ship with me Reyes.” He snarled at her.  
            “Make me.”  
            “I fully intend to.”  
            “I can’t wait to see you try.”  
            “Guaranteed to be a show.”  
            “And what do you plan to do once you get me on that ship?”  
            “That, Reyes, is a secret, you’ll have to wait till you’re on the ship.”  
            “Secret dies with you then, I’m not getting on.”  
            “You will.”  
            “Like I said, Make me.”  
            “Like I said, I will.”

            Gaien looked at her before he grabbed her artillery vest and yanked her forward, his forehead hitting hers as he sighed. “Fucking stubborn little shit.”  
            “Giant asshole.” grumbled Reyes as she held his wrist and stared him in the eye. “Look buddy, I ain't romancing material, I’m ornery, cranky, weird, and I don’t have sex unless hopelessly in love. So you’re better off just dropping this little cru-”  
            “Shut up Reyes, just stop talking and kiss me.” He growled at her as he pressed his mouth plates to her lips and invaded her mouth with his tongue. He wasn’t too surprised when she returned it, hell he knew she thought he was attractive.  
            “Pushy old man.”  
            “I’m five years older than you...”  
            “Shut up and kiss me cradle robber.”  
            He snorted but grabbed the back of her head, his gloved hands gripping her hair as he kissed her.  
            “I’m still not sleeping with you.”  
            “Not until I make you fall hopelessly in love with me anyways.”  
            “Not going to happen.”  
            “Then I guess I’m going to be as celibate as you for the rest of my life.” He nipped at her lower lip before nuzzling her again. Love? Probably not… Respect and honest caring feelings? Definitely. 


	5. Chapter 5

            “Mother fucker.” breathed Reyes as she looked at Tannis. He was standing there all smugly in front of her, his arms crossed as he leaned against a crate.  
            “AND HOW COULD YOU THINK ABOUT GOING OFF AND DYING SOMEWHERE!?” screeched the voice of her mother through the call. Reyes said nothing as she squinted evilly at Tannis, he simply examined his gloved talons and clicked his mandibles.  
            “Fucking, Mom! Stop! Look you knew that I probably was going to die!”  
            “Don’t make me come up there and get you!”  
            “Oh? And how are you going to get up here? You’re a civilian mom! No craft is gonna fly you out to here especially when everyone is going for the final push on Earth!”  
            “I will find a way! I’m your momma! I can do everything and anything! Now you go with the Mr. Alien and then come home!”  
            “Even if I go with Tannis I would be going to fight on earth!”  
            “COME HOME MEJA!”  
            “MOM!”  
            “DO AS I SAY!”  
            Reyes rubbed her temples before she glared at Tannis, who along with everyone else, was chuckling at her. “I hate you, god damn it do I hate you you over grown bird brain.” she mouthed to Tannis as he just smirked at her and ran his thumb over his mouth plates with a raised eyebrow plate. She kept her glare but blushed as well. “Fucker.”  
            “WHAT DID YOU SAY!?”  
            “NOTHING MOM!”  
            “Come home, come home with Mr. Alien. Let the real soldiers fight!”  
            “I am a real soldier mom! I’m a fucking N7!”  
            “Don’t talk to me like that I’m your mother!”  
            “THEN UNDERSTAND THAT I AM GOING TO FIGHT WITH THE REST OF THE GALAXY!” she yelled before slamming the laptop closed and rounding on Tannis.  
            “Welcome aboard.”  
            “Fuck. You!” she snarled as she punched him.  
            “Only after you’re hopelessly in love with me.” he chuckled at her despite the pain in his jaw now.  
            “Yeah, that’s definitely not happening now!”  
            “Doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep trying Reyes.”  
            “Die trying.”  
            “I fully intend to!”  
            “Fine!”  
            “Fine.”  
            “Ugh… go away.”  
            “Nah, I think you need someone to annoy you more.”  
            “Why?! You used to be cute!”  
            “I’m still cute! You just don’t know what to do with someone liking you genuinely.”  
            “Fucking, Christ sakes! What do you want from me?!”  
            Gaien looked at her genuinely confused. “You don’t really know?”  
            “NO!” she cried.  
            Gaien smiled softly and looked to the right before sighing. “I actually like you… I know I’m a nobody, and you probably already have someone, but I in all honesty like you. More than just fuck you in a corner like too… I got attached to the woman who was always watching my back for me.”  
            Reyes deflated and held her face, “Look, if this war is won by our side, and we’re still alive… I’ll go on a date with you. Sound fair? See if we even work like that.”                       
            “You got it.”  
            “Tannis?”  
            “Yeah Reyes?”  
            “You are still cute.” she admitted before pulling him forward and kissing him. She had to stand on her toes and he had to lean in, but it worked none the less.  
            “Wanna make out?”  
            “Fine, but if you tell anyone I’ll end you.”  
            “I won’t.” he breathed as he herded her behind some crates and leaned down, his tongue searching her hers.  
            Reyes sighed contently as he picked her up by her thighs and rested her on the crate behind them. Okay, so he was good at this, and she could at least say she kissed someone before she died in a fiery battle.


End file.
